$416 million in disaster funding comes through for homes lost in B.C. wildfires

Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair says extreme weather events are increasing across Canada and everyone must be prepared for disasters.

Blair says Public Safety Canada has responded to 14 requests for community assistance related to wildfires over the last two years, but received just four such requests in the five years before that.

He says the increasing frequency of fires mean it's critically important that the federal and provincial governments learn from the blaze that destroyed Lytton last year.

Blair made the comments in Vancouver flanked by several other federal and provincial ministers as part of an announcement about federal support measures in preparation for another wildfire season in BC.